these little wonders
by fleeting nascent
Summary: —but then the afternoon wind blows and her mint-vanilla scent and her green, green eyes and Vanille—she is everywhere and he is petrified; frozen and motionless because he can't believe that he only realizes today how much he's really missed her.
1. prologue

**title**: these little wonders

**dedicated to**: everyone i love. nutella. and to **daybreaks** who was kind enough to critique my story.

**notes**: i have no idea what i'm doing. this is new for me and i hope that this ride's going to be unforgettable.

**disclaimer**: i own nothing.

* * *

**PROLOGUE**

_ the hardest part is over_

Hope Estheim had been, for most of his past life, utterly alone; wondering where his friends had gone to and when they would be back.

He was losing hope—every fragile shard of it—that his friends and his mother were ever coming back. He tried, _oh how he tried_, bringing them home. He led a scientific research group and he studied time and space continuum itself for the sake of _them_.

Then, when every ounce of his supposedly unwavering faith and theoretically lasting optimism were finally being sucked out of him by the sheer helplessness of his dismal situation, the countless machines in the research room beeped furiously. They were almost screaming what they had observed.

He found it funny the manner of how he ran as swift as a swallow to the monitors, complete with wide blue-green eyes. He almost-kind-of shoved his assistant, Alyssa Zaidelle, out of his path on his way.

He grabbed the desktops and he looked on the screens intently as Alyssa narrated what the engines detected. His heart began to really _thump_ against his chest.

At first, he couldn't believe what he was seeing; what he was hearing. Alyssa babbled on but all that really stuck on his mind was: "There are two people travelling through time, sir, but only one is recognized by the system: _Serah Farron_."

Those two words had lighted up the fire of hope in his heart. He thought Serah's appearance under his radars was too much of a convenience that at first he had hesitated to even _believe_ it. "_What if life wants to play with me more?"_ he had thought suspiciously, doubtfully. But the ringing and whirring of his contraptions that served as his lifeline drowned every uncertainty and skepticism away into nothingness.

There it was—proof that he could be reunited with Lightning, Vanille, Fang, Sazh, Snow and his mother—proof that nothing really was impossible; that everything was _possible_.

But then he saw Serah in her pure, virtuous and angelic glory and it just made his emotions go into haywire mode. There was just too much Lightning in her that it sent him rushing toward the little Farron, grabbing her dainty, lady, hands and expressing how relieved he was with her being safe.

He told Serah and her companion, Noel Kreiss, about his research and his motives. And when he learned about _their _aims, he had not given himself a choice but to _help_. He wanted to see everyone again, feel the same invincibility that exhilarated through him when he was with them.

And then came the seemingly infinite battles. Hope was tired but he was far from losing what he held so dear: his desire for the time when everyone was still _alive_.

The skirmishes came and went. Sweat and blood dripped and were wiped clean. Wounds were treated and scars healed. Caius was defeated and Lightning was saved. The maiden, Paddra Nsu-Yeul, died one last time, because for the second time, they defied their fate. She said that she'd rather die there, than fall where she came from, claiming she disrupted the flow of time. Serah expressed her grief, saying that it was all her fault, but Yeul denied her that. She said that it was all predestined by the divine, that Serah saves her sister and that she brought peace to her friends' minds.

Paddra Nsu-Yeul died smiling like an angel.

Noel Kreiss, as Hope assumed, was back to his time. He had faded slowly moments after Yeul had died, smiling faintly at them and saying: "I'm counting on you to build a better tomorrow."

They had tainted time so greatly, as Caius said in his last breath, but Lightning stated that, "No, we didn't _taint _time. We painted something better."— this was what led Hope and Serah to believe that Noel was, in fact, back to a time where he would not be alone anymore.

Alyssa, on the other hand―she had been lost in the rubble of the fight and though Hope wanted to look for her, Lightning suggested that they didn't. "She's not here," she had said mysteriously, though how Lightning could possibly know; that was one topic Hope didn't want to look deep into. Yet.

His sweet, loyal assistant; never in a million years would he think that she had been spying on his research party and that she was working with that sinister Caius. Ever.

But now she was gone— gone with her master; her charming aura withered by her baleful motive.

The Goddess promised a happy ending for them if they promised not to give time-travelling a try again. She had also told them to _wait_.

_Wait?_ He wanted to scream, _I've waited long enough!_

Another thing that the Goddess had told them was that they should have never brought back those who had already died; they could but they shouldn't.

Hope accepted this whole-heartedly, though he was dejected that his mother could not walk the face of the earth again. He wonders even now — though regretfully— how things might've been different if he didn't insist on watching those fireworks; his mother might still be alive, right? But then he wouldn't have met Lightning or Snow or Sazh or Vanille and Fang; he wouldn't had gotten the chance to have some closure with his father; he wouldn't have the chance to see Gran Pulse or Oerba.

But was his mother's death really worth all that?

_No, I'm sure you would have wound up here. Don't you remember you promised me? You promised me we'd come and see Gran Pulse together._

He remembered vaguely a conversation he had with Vanille on Yaschas Massif. She said that they had promised to see Gran Pulse together possibly in another lifetime.

_Was that predestined, too?_ He wanted to ask the Goddess but didn't have the gall to, like how he didn't have the gall to ask if he would be able to see Vanille and Fang again. He didn't know what stopped him but he had a nagging feeling that it was because he was scared, scared to know that the answer could be something he wouldn't be able to take.

And now they were back to their times, Lightning back ten years ago, Serah back seven years ago. And he was back in _his _original time.

When they—Lightning, Serah and Hope— said goodbye to each other, they didn't seem sad. They would see each other again, after all. They didn't have any foreboding feeling in their chests as they watched each other fade into colorful glitters dancing in the wind.


	2. 1

**title**: these little wonders

**dedicated to**: dandrene, who will never see this anyway. so i'm just going to say it. i like you, like, _a lot_. you have been nothing but supportive to me and you are so funny and cute and why can't i have you? even when you were so close, you felt so far away.

**notes**: this took so longggggggggggggggggggg. god i am so sorry. just. life got in the way, you know? i just want to thank all those who are following this story. i really _really _appreciate it.

**disclaimer: **none of this is mine.

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE**

_but i cannot forget the way i feel right now_

**_Seven years AF_**

"Hey, Hope, wake up! It's already three-thirty!" Snow calls out from outside his door, knocking on it wildly. Hope Estheim sits up groggily and rubs his eyes with the heel of his palm. He yawns loudly and, putting a shirt on, walks toward his front door with grace of a wounded lemur.

He grabs the doorknob absent-mindedly and drawls out a greeting as Snow Villiers, self-proclaimed hero, swaggers into his home. "G'morning, sunshine!" he says enthusiastically and—being Snow and all—loudly. Hope yawns again and mutters his manners, "Do you want a drink or…?"

"No, no, I'm fine," Snow says hastily before stopping himself, "But you look like _you _need a drink. You still working up late?" he's probably pertaining to his research.

Hope snorts, "Still? I don't think I'll ever stop."

Snow makes a disgruntled noise, "Yeah, but you _should_ stop. We'll figure something out. Serah says—"

"—Serah says that we'll see them again somehow," Hope interposes rather rudely, "I know, I know. I heard you the fiftieth time. But when's again? In the next ten years? Fifteen? _Twenty_?"

"Probably, but—"

"But what?" Hope breathes in slowly, regretting how he sounded so harsh after a look on the hero's face. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I'm just… tired, is all."

"Yep, looks like it." Snow smiles slightly and motions for Hope to sit down. "Come on, rest some more. I'm gonna coo—"

"Don't even think about it," Hope teases pleasantly, "Every time _you_ step in my kit—"

"—in _anyone's_ kitchen," Snow supplies with a tad bit more enthusiasm than he should have.

Hope nods in affirmation, "Every time _you _step in _anyone's_ kitchen, we always end up calling the policemen, the firemen, or the exorcist."

In the middle of his reminiscing smile Snow shoots Hope an almost dubious and appalled look, "Wait. That last bit's not true and you know it! We call the policemen, the firemen _and_ the exorcist."

Hope then laughs freely, doubling over and grabbing his stomach. Snow laughs, too. And, for a while, they don't stop because it just _feels so good_ to laugh heartily like that—and because whenever they stop one look at each other and they start again.

At last, their glee dies down, leaving only a lingering presence of good-natured humor. Snow sobers up first, surprisingly, and walks to the kitchen. He emerges from it with a cup of coffee and, handing it to Hope, he sits down. Hope nods his thanks and walks toward the humongous window overlooking New Oerba.

Hope's house isn't like the normal houses found in Academia, the new capital of Gran Pulse, because it is elevated. It's supported by four strong beams of metal, rising three feet from the ground and a silver spiral staircase leads to his door. Its walls are mostly made of glass which can be a little disconcerting whenever he forgets where he has put his towel in the middle of his shower.

Hope is quite proud of his house, because it is such a sight to behold. His father bought it for him as a "Coming of Age" gift when he turned eighteen. At first, he thought that his father only wanted to kick him out, but after a few drinks, his father finally spilled the beans.

"_I want you to feel free and to have space for yourself. But buying you a house like that doesn't mean you can't come back home to me."_

His father isn't so great with sober conversations, so that's why Snow suggested getting him drunk. Hope didn't want to, but he was glad that he did; after what he found out, he resolves to never doubt his father's decisions again.

Down below, Hope sees children running around in all their young ecstasy, their laughter emanating the radiance of being a child. He smiles softly, recalling the days when he was drowning in _that _youthful ecstasy.

He looks away almost bitterly after a while and he sees Snow looking down at his gloved hands sadly. The hero looks up at him and whispers, "It's today."

"Yes," Hope mutters and then sips at his beverage. "It has been, what, seven years?"

In the past seven years, the people originally from Cocoon have adapted very well in their new home. The Academy took over the responsibility of leading the people. Food and other necessities are not a problem because of their efforts.

Snow agrees. "You know the usual. Serah wants us to come to Sazh's."

_So that's why Snow came_—Hope says to himself—_to fetch me. He and Serah must think I wouldn't want to come—_

"Now, don't go thinking that I came here to fetch you," Snow assures him after a look on Hope's face, "I left early because I just didn't want to see Serah go hopeful-mode on me. You know how she is; always talking about how they'll be back _soon_."

Snow laughs humorlessly, "If I didn't know them, didn't get to fight alongside them and didn't get to be good friends with them, I would've told Serah to move on; to always look forward. But I _did_ get to know them, and I _did_ get to fight alongside them and I _did_ get to be good friends with them. With that kind of bond…" Snow trails off before adding quietly the words: "…it's hard to _ever_ move on."

Something twists in his stomach, something akin to _yearning_ and _relevance_ but Hope does nothing but ignore it. He walks to his friend and, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder, he says, "I get it, man. You don't need to—"

"You should've seen her last night, Hope," Snow stands up, shaking Hope's hand away, brows furrowed in confusion, "You should've heard her mutter things like: 'Oh, they'll be back! They'll be _back _tomorrow, Snow! I just know it!'"

Hope's eyes soften and he shakes his head, as if to say, _I'm sorry about all of this,_ "Wait for me, will you? I can't go there looking like this."

He doesn't bother cheering Snow up because he knows that the hero's never permanently sad. And besides, last year, Serah was like that, too. Always hopeful. Always expecting. Always disappointed.

Just like everyone else.

* * *

Serah Farron woke up happy today, and now, walking to the door leading to their garden, she is still happy.

She breathes in the fresh, Pulsian air and giggles a little. "Today's the day," she mumbles dreamily, confidently, "Today's the day that you come back, right, Lightning?"

No one answers her but she doesn't mind. She continues her walk outside, picking flowers on her way. She picks the flowers that have the color of pink, the color of Lightning's hair; then bright red, the color of Vanille's hair; then green apples, because she got the feeling that Fang won't like flowers the color of her eyes.

Four years ago, Serah saved her sister from the destiny of being the Goddess Etro's guard. She changed time and she defied fate—again. The Goddess let Lightning go, because the sole threat to her throne, Cauis Ballad, has died and no more conflicts are seen in the Goddess' realm. Noel had to go back to his time, because he's trusted Serah, Hope and Light to be better people for a better world. Serah firmly believes that he's now back to his home, with people, because the Goddess promised all of them something they've been fighting for a long time.

"_For being so valiant, I promise to give you all something you've always wanted: a happy ending."_

Besides, Noel is from a future so far up ahead, he'd still exist even after all the decisions that would make his existence otherwise, right? And, the Goddess also called him a hero. He'd give him credit for being brave, Serah always says.

For four years, Serah kept quiet because she doesn't think telling Snow, Hope and Sazh the truth will make their crystallized friends wake up any faster. They wouldn't believe her anyway.

When she came back from time-travelling, Snow was distraught. She didn't know that being in other times meant that she'll be spending hers— Snow and the others were looking for her; they couldn't bear to lose someone else. Apparently, she'd been gone for three months. Snow, her ever understanding husband, didn't inquire her much. Hope and Sazh, thankfully, didn't too. She made up a viable excuse ("I needed to find myself…") and they believed it with only a soft reprimand that was in the lines of: "You should've told us before you left."

At her coming back, she also found out that Lightning had been brought back too, but to the time before their lives had taken yet another wild turn—three years before—but she is not with them now because she is currently crystallized with Fang and Vanille, holding up the once floating continent of Cocoon.

When she found out, she became jubilant despite the situation because if Lightning's with Fang and Vanille, that only means that when she wakes up from her sleep, the two Oerban girls will, too. That's what Lightning considered a happy ending after all: to be with everyone again.

"_One thing at a time, Serah," _her sister had said. "One thing at a time indeed," she agrees whole-heartedly. Light's safe and she's coming back. Vanille and Fang don't have to suffer because of their sacrifice anymore. Sazh and Dahj are living happily and contently. Snow is Snow, ever cheerful and loyal. Hope. Hope is—

Coming back from different timelines, and having seen what Hope will become, Serah smiles vaguely. He had grown into a beautiful young man but he was jailed in his own discontentment and loneliness. Serah didn't tell him about what she saw and what she experienced; she didn't even stop him when he announced that he's a part of research group studying time paradoxes. Serah is sure that he won't do anything stupid —like time-travelling— without asking for advice, because though he's grown up, Hope is still like a baby wanting attention. He's smart; he'd never do anything reckless without making sure it's going to work.

Though he won't see his mother ever again, Serah is pretty sure he'd be equally happy to see Light, Vanille and Fang.

Bending down to pick up a pink flower, her wedding ring glitters under the sunlight and for the first time that day she frowns. Serah didn't want to have their wedding without her sister but she couldn't make Snow wait any longer, too.

But her frown is quickly replaced by a wide smile, as she resolves to have their wedding again, when Light, Vanille and Fang come back. Lightning would be upset to know that her sister has wed without her but her disappointment would be sure to subside. Vanille and Fang would probably fine with it and Snow would be plain thrilled.

Humming happily, she walks back inside her house, a basket full of beautiful flowers and juicy apples in her arms.

* * *

"Dahj, my boy, will you get the white table cloth for me?" Sazh calls out to his son from the porch, "It's under the drawers with the bed sheets."

"Sure thing, dad!" was thirteen-year-old Dahj's reply. He emerges from their house with a white cloth tucked under his arms. He unfolds the thing and holds it out for his father to see. "Is this the right one?"

Sazh smiles and says, "Yep. Spot-on."

They set up the table, chatting idly about Dahj's school work and his father's career as a pilot. The innocently brought-up stories take a sharp turn into far away memories when Dahj asks his father to tell him _the _story again.

Sazh smiles at his son kindly and contemplates for a moment if he should oblige or not. But, the spark in his eyes—how the afternoon sunlight glazes off the crystallized Cocoon and reflects into his son's untainted and curious gaze—makes him do otherwise.

He grabs two of the four ends of the cloth, walks to the long table and motions for his son to help him lay it down. Dahj does this, all the while straining his ears for the beginning of his father's story.

After the table has been clothed, they sit together on one of the two benches, facing the crystallized Cocoon. Sazh tells his son the story, complete with funny sound effects he tells himself is all for his son's entertainment but really it's something like a coping mechanism.

It's hard to cope, though, when they are living just a few hundred meters away from where it all ended. Sazh chose this area to build a new home on because he is sure that they'll wake up some day and that when they do, they'll see him immediately—they wouldn't have to find them through misleading answers from strangers. Fang and Lightning tend to get impatient, after all. From every window the pillar's visible, haunting his dreams and plaguing his thoughts. But the thought of leaving never crosses his mind. He even had the house built with four rooms; for whenever they come back, Vanille and Fang would have a place to stay.

It doesn't even bother him that they don't have neighbors within a hundred meter radius. He and Dahj understand that the people are still afraid Cocoon might fall and crush them.

"Dad? What happens next?"

As much as possible Sazh doesn't want to relive what happened because he doesn't want to remember the fact that he couldn't do anything to stop it. But he tells their story anyway, hoping that his son grows up to know how he was saved; how three strangers sacrificed their lives so that other people can keep theirs— and hoping _oh just hoping_ that at the middle of his tale Lightning or Vanille or Fang will interrupt, saying that _"It most certainly didn't happen that way!"_ or _"Let me tell it, old man, because you're not doing very good."_

Dahj proves to be a very good listener, laughing when it's needed and gasping when it's required. Sazh laughs inwardly because he's told this story since he could remember but Dahj still acts surprised.

When Sazh finishes, Dahj silences for a while before saying: "You know what, Dad?"

"What?"

"I think…" Dahj looks on hopefully at the crystal pillar, "I think that we're gonna see them again. Aunt Lightning, Aunt Vanille and Aunt Fang, I mean."

It hurts to hear his son speak that way, like he's grown up too fast when he's just a decade and three years old. But it doesn't hurt in a _bad _way but more like in a _comforting_ way because hearing Dahj like that only means that he _understands_ the situation and that he's _there_ for his father. He raised him well.

Sazh drags his eyes from his son to the pillar, asking, "What makes you say that?"

"I… I just have a hunch, I guess," his son sheepishly admits, "But it isn't like when I'm guessing answers in a test—"

"I thought you said you studied?"

"That's beside the point," Dahj says quickly.

_Dahj sure knows how to evade for a thirteen year old. Maybe he's spending too much time with Snow?_

"What, then, is the point?"

"Well, I had this dream, well; maybe it's some kind of a vision, but dad," Dahj turns on his sitting position to face his father. "I just know, _I just really know it_—they'll be back. And we'll be happy. You won't have to be guilty anymore. And Aunt Serah doesn't have to be hoping all the time. And Uncle Hope can stop looking at his monitors so much." There's so much desperation in his voice that Sazh almost believes him. But then again, it's been seven years… _Will they _ever_ be back? Vanille and Fang woke up from their sleep _five-hundred years_ later. What if—_

"Sazh? Dahj? We're here!" they hear Serah call out from the front door. It is surprisingly quiet today; peaceful.

Dahj jumps up. He walks to the door, wrenches it open and embraces Serah. She laughs and touches his cheek, "Hi there," she greets and kisses his head, "Up and about, are we?"

Dahj nods enthusiastically and says, "Yes, ma'am!"

Snow then ruffles his hair and laughs his booming laugh, "Table's ready?"

"Almost," Sazh says from the kitchen. "Hey, guys."

"Hey, old man!" Snow bellows, "What's up? Haven't seen you in weeks!"

Sazh laughs and grabs Snow's extended hand and pats him on the back. "Fine, fine. And Hope—you?"

"I'm doing all right," Hope replies and then shrugs, "Busy—but otherwise all right."

Sazh grins slyly, "Still busy? Huh. Young boy, you're what, twenty-one? You're supposed to be dating girls, not being busy! A lot of girls in your department, I hear, are willing to cut off a limb to take you out!"

With indignantly flaming cheeks Hope denies, "No! That's—I'm _busy_!"

"Busy? Or maybe you're not _into girls?"_ Snow suggests, feigning a casual tone and shrugging.

Hope splutters, eyes twitching like mad and fists clenched. "I-I'm not—Are you implying that… are you implying some—something?"

Snow takes a hold of the nearby island counter and starts laughing wildly, coughing in between cackles. "I c-can't be-believe y-you—"

"Snow!" Serah chides, hands on her hips, "Stop teasing Hope! We all know you've been in that phase before."

Snow stops abruptly and looks at Serah with wide eyes. His eyes scan the room _sober_ but then they land on Hope and he laughs again. This time Serah giggles with her. And then Sazh joins in, and, seeing everyone happy, Dahj laughs, too. Only Hope looks serious but his annoyance and embarrassment starts to fade away slowly and before he knows it, he is laughing, too.

"So… any news?" Sazh says between bites, supper has started at five because they always visit their friends at six.

"Nothing new on me," Hope says and turns to Snow and Serah, "You?"

"Nada," Snow drawls, "Life's got a bit boring since… you know."

"Yeah," Sazh replies, "A bit anticlimactic, if you ask me."

Hope nods mutely and so does Serah. Only Dahj breaks the silence: "What does 'anticlimactic' mean, dad?"

"It means that when you're expecting something big to happen," Sazh explains patiently, "It just doesn't."

Dahj nods in understanding and gets back to his food.

"So, uh, Hope," Snow says, forcing an offhanded tone, "How's your research?"

Hope sets his fork down slowly, looking at Snow with surreptitious blue-green eyes. "Do you really want to know? Or is this just one of your ways to get me annoyed again?"

Snow shoots him a scandalized look and points his spoon toward the boy, "Are you doubting my concern on how we'll bring them back?"

Hope, Sazh and Serah stop moving entirely and the three stare at Snow, dumbstruck. Dahj stops too and tilts his head inquisitively at the hero. "What?" Snow asks, and his tone sounds like he's offended in some way. Raising his hands in front of him in surrender, he says, "I think about them too."

Dinner passes by quietly after that.

* * *

"Will you grab the towel?" Serah quietly requests of Hope. They are left alone in Sazh's house, washing the dishes while Sazh fixes up the table and Snow plays with Dahj.

Hope obliges, handing her what she asked for absently. He is leaning on the counter beside the sink, arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed.

"You alright?" Serah asks after a while, looking dejectedly at the untouched flowers and apples by the dining table.

Hope shakes his head miserably and mutters, "Fine… just…"

"It's what Snow said, huh?"

"Well," Hope looks at Serah for any sign or proof that she's not comfortable talking about _that topic_—he finds nothing. "Yes," he breathes like he's just been freed from something that has been holding him back. "It's just that it's so hard, I—"

"You miss them, I know," Serah says gently, "I miss someone too."

Hope doesn't reply to that and, instead, walks toward the island counter and sits on one of the bar stools. He draws circles on the counter's surface for a while before speaking up again.

"Snow told me about your… ah, premonition." Serah finishes up the dishes and sits across from Hope, blue eyes boring into his. "Oh, that," she mumbles. "I'm sorry about, you kn—"

"It's fine. I don't have the right to judge you based on what I do myself," Hope smiles sadly at her, "_'They're gonna wake up today, I know it!'_ that's what you said, right? Well, don't feel ashamed or guilty about it because I do it, too. And maybe Sazh and Snow do, too. I tell myself everyday that they'll be back and everything will be relatively happy again. But it never happens, right?"

Serah shakes her head resolutely. "No, it will happen. Sooner or later. If not today, tomorrow. Or the next day and the next day and—"

"Serah, we can't keep getting our hopes up!"

"So are you saying we should give up?" Serah asks incredulously, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly. "Is that what you want to do?"

_Hope has really grown_, Serah notes, _but it seems that not all of him has changed._

Hope frowns and shakes his head, "No, no. What I mean is that we should stop complaining and we should start making our move!" He stands up and spreads his arms, "We've got technology in our hands now, Serah. We can get them back. To make a better future, we need to change history. Not just bring Lightning back, but Vanille, Fang and my mother. And yours too, if you want!"

_He sounds exactly like himself three years from now._

"No, we can't. The dead are—"

Hope leans onto the counter, his palms against the surface. Ignoring her words, he insists: "We can change things, Serah. _Really_ change them. The world and its people won't change with pretty dreams and pretty words alone. We _have_ to do something about it! You lost your parents and your sister to the world's cruelty, you understand, don't you?"

Serah bites her lip. _So that's why he refused to answer Snow a while ago. Hope thought he won't understand._

"I—Hope, we need to… _you_ need to think this through. Everything's predestined, Hope. We need to accept that," she's pleading now, fingers crossed under the countertop.

"Accept what?" Hope explodes, "That my mom died because it was _her time_?! That Lightning, Vanille and Fang had to sleep because it was _fated_ to happen?!"

Hope snorts derisively, "If it's destiny that's holding me back, I'm just going to have to force my way through it."

Serah feels pressured now and she clicks her tongue. Hope's gone all haywire on her. _I guess there's no other way for him to understand. _"Hope, I need to tell you someth—"

Serah is cut off by a horrible shake of the earth. She grabs hold of the counter as the ground continues to tremble. Hope falls down clumsily, being caught off guard by the sudden earthquake. The world is quivering and everything on the shelves and the cupboards starts falling to the floor. He barely dodges every single one what with glass and ceramic shards flying everywhere like grenade shrapnel.

Glasses and plates break and chairs and appliances wobble. Hope feels like the world in which they are standing on is in a snow globe being shaken by an overly high-spirited kid. His eyes start to whirl out of control somehow and he closes them shut. _If this keeps up, everyone's gonna find me with my organs thrown up and scattered on the floor._

"W-what's happening—?"

Then, the shaking stops so suddenly and a bright, white light with tints of crystal blue and imperial gold shoots from the outside, penetrating Sazh's house through the windows and the open door.

Hope stands up, swaying slightly and rushes to Serah, "Hey, you alright? What the hell just happened?"

Serah groans as Hope helps her up. "Are the others okay—?"

"Serah! Hope! You've gotta see this!" Snow barges in with a ghostly pale face. "It's the pillar! It—something happened to it!"

"What do you mean—?"

"I see a crack. Look—" Snow points into the distance. "—this might sound crazy but I think they're awake."

Serah and Hope waste no time in running outside, not even minding the debris lying around.

They break out of the house, sprinting after Snow through the knee-high grass. Sazh and Dahj are nowhere to be found but they barely even notice.

Serah feels both panic and excitement rise up in her chest. Her heart beats with loud _thump, boom, thump, thump, boom_ and she's running; running as fast as her legs can take her. As they near the pillar, the grass grows taller and visibility is down to almost none. All that leads her is Snow's boots and his hurried footsteps against crunchy grass.

_Could this be it? Is Lightning finally awake?_

She hears voices talking and relieved laughter, too. She runs faster. _Snow's laughing in relief! Was it because—?_ Her breaths are coming in short gasps but she doesn't care. Her hair whips at her face and it stings. The wind blows hard at her, as if preventing her from getting any further but no current is going to stop her.

Not now; not ever.

Then she stops suddenly, because just a few meters away from where she last hears Snow's footsteps, Serah hears a familiar sound. She doesn't see anything because the grass there is inches taller than her but if she isn't mistaken—but she knows that she isn't; she can't be—that sound; _slap!,_ belongs only to one gesture.

"Ow! Why did you _hit_ me?"

_Light!_

Serah then breaks into another hurried run and when she reaches a clearing around the crystal pillar she stops so abruptly she almost falls forward. "L-Lightning… y-you're he—"

"Serah," Lightning Farron smiles, "you've grown up."

Hope stops just a few meters behind Serah, completely shocked. Though she finally gets a grip and moves quickly forward, he is frozen in the moment, breath uneven and hair tousled. He can't believe his eyes because just a short distance from him—

"Hope? Hope, is that you?" He hears someone say after what felt like hours of staring forward into the distance. That is Light's voice. It is so warm and so cold at the same time. He hears her but he doesn't _see _her because of the tall grass around him, outgrowing him by inches. Grass rustles and a few blades bend. A few moments later, there she is, Lightning Farron, in all her warrior glory, in front of him. So beautiful, so magnificent and so _real_.

He inclines toward Light but he doesn't move because he's afraid; scared that if he does, all traces of Lightning—her voice, her eyes, her hair—will disappear.

She looks at her with intense, piercing blue eyes. "Hope?" there it is again. Her voice that he misses so much that it _physically hurts_.

_Is this… is this a dream?_

Hope shakes his head, drops his tense shoulders and grabs hold of his knees desperately. "Is this…" his breath has finally caught up to him and it's breaking his lungs apart. "…Is this real?"

He's dreamed of this moment for so long, for so many times. But this time, it feels so unimaginably real. Lightning, she looks so tangible and genuine and _true_ that Hope just loses it.

"Hope, hey, you alright?" she tries again and he hears her getting closer, combat boots striking grass down with every step— _Yes!_ Hope cries out in his head triumphantly, _That—that didn't sound like anything from my dreams!_

He smiles widely, elatedly, and straightens up. He breathes and starts to run. Lightning, she stops mid-stride and he sees her smile at him with her small smile. He smiles back and feels that with the speed of his sprint, he could _fly_. He's so exultant, he _knows_ he could fly. _Finally! For seven years I—_

A flash of bright red and striking green is the next thing he sees and something collides with him harshly, brusquely. He is toppling, falling backward as something—_Or someone…?_—warmth slams onto him, wrapping thin arms around his neck happily. She's a girl, Hope figures before instinctively stepping one foot back and wrapping an arm around the girl's slim waist.

He breathes in her scent—mint and vanilla—and comes to the conclusion that the girl is—

"Vanille!"


	3. 2

**title**: these little wonders

**dedicated to**: that new Amnesia teaser. Guise. I am so excited!

**notes**: yes, i got the title from that song from _Meet the Robinsons by _Rob Thomas. That movie was seriously the greatest, by far, of Disney movies. I mean god, it was so depressing and enjoyable and i felt really good after watching it.

**disclaimer**: this is not mine. cross my heart, hope to die.

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO**

****_our hopes and expectations, black holes and revelations_

"Serah," Lightning Farron smiles, "you've grown up."

Serah dashes to her sister almost desperately and engulfs Lightning in a bear hug. Lightning embraces her back and then pats her little sister's cheek. "Are you… crying?"

"I— you're really here!" Serah pulls away abruptly, blue eyes glistening with tears. "Here. _Today_. With us."

Light smiles again, "_That_, I am, sis."

Serah bounces and hugs her sister again, proclaiming: "I knew it! Oh, I just knew it!"

Snow, looking on at the scene, smiles wistfully as he rubs his sore cheek. _I should've believed her._

Lightning is really there. She is as beautiful and lethal as she was seven years ago, before they slept— though, seeing her again, it feels like it was just yesterday that they were branded as l'Cie and had had their series of adventures _and _misadventures.

His eyes land their gaze to his ever loyal, ever lovely wife, who's smiling blissfully in her sister's arms. He's got to admit, she's never seen Serah that happy before; not even on their wedding day.

But he doesn't mind because it's all worth it. Serah— seeing her smile like that— it kind of makes up for every single hurt he's experienced.

He sees Light address someone behind Serah but he doesn't look because the next thing he hears is:

"Such a wonderful sight, don'tcha agree?" someone says behind him.

He greets her airily, casually, though he's really, really happy to see that she's back too.

"Hey, I see you've woken up."

Emerging from a gaping hole in the base of the crystal pillar is none other than the striking huntress, Oerba Yun Fang. The hole disappears and the pillar returns to its perfectly unscathed state. Fang salutes in greeting and saunters over to him. They shake hands and they say nothing more, because, though they're both open-minded and reckless, they do not dare disturb the two sisters' moment.

Stumbling through the tall grass just at their right is Dahj, looking back at his father, "Dad! Dad, I think Uncle Snow went through—" the boy stops short and stares dumbly at the scene before him. Frozen, his father almost collides with him. "Dahj!" his father reprimands, "Why are you— Oh Maker. Fang… Lightning… is that— is that you?"

Fang walks up to him and spreads her arms. "The one and only," she says and then throws an arm around Dahj, ruffling his hair. "And you must be the old man's son! Ah, how you've grown!"

Taken aback, Dahj only nods wordlessly, blushing.

"Now, now, Fang," Snow says almost cheekily, "Don't scare the kid off! He's only thirteen!"

"Thirteen?!" Fang gasps incredulously, "It seems that we've overslept!"

Sazh laughs a little before saying suddenly, "Wait. Where's—?"

* * *

"Vanille!" Hope cries out, blue-green eyes wide and surprised. He regains his composure a second later and wraps both of his arms around her, saying: "It's you!_ It's really, really you_!"

She laughs her jovial laugh and the sound passes by his ear; it tickles him. Hope laughs with her, holding her up and spinning her around. She screams playfully and it makes his heart dance.

Everything, _the earth, the sky, the wind_—they disappear simultaneously as the both of them twirl.

Hope eventually drops Vanille back to earth and pulls away. He looks down at her—she's shorter than him now; barely reaching his ears—and smiles at her widely. He holds her by an arm's distance but he feels that she's so much _closer_ than that.

Oerba Dia Vanille looks so _beautiful_ under the now setting sun, emerald eyes shining with utter delight.

"You grew…" she says breathlessly, "…taller."

"You…" he wants to say something witty but he can't and all that he ends up saying is: "…you didn't."

_Smooth, Hope, __**real **__smooth._

Vanille playfully punches him in the shoulder. "Well, of course, silly! I've been asleep for…" she trails off, innocent eyes looking expectantly at him.

"Huh?" he says stupidly before sputtering, "Oh! You've been asleep seven years."

"Seven, huh?" she backpedals for a moment with her thoughts then shrugs nonchalantly. "Well, I've slept longer," she says casually.

Vanille ponders, with a big, pensive frown. Then she steps away hastily from Hope and gasps, pointing an accusing finger at him. "You're _older_ than me now!"

Hope laughs airily and reassures her, "Only by what, two years? And besides, you're supposed to be born more than _five hundred years_ ago!"

Vanille appears to have considered his argument and finds her way back into his arms again. He's taken aback, but holds her nonetheless. "I—I've missed you," she whispers against his chest and it almost makes him _melt_. He hasn't heard her sound so sad and plaintive before and it makes _him_ sad and plaintive.

Despite himself, he brushes his fingertips against her hair—now the color of a hundred sunsets—comfortingly. He feels her straighten up uncomfortably at the gesture but soon breathes in deep and molds into him. Closing his eyes, he murmurs, "I've missed you too."

For a moment they just stand there, with Vanille's hands flat against his chest and his fingers combing through her pigtails, holding each other like lovers should. Hope starts to stiffen because if anybody sees them like that, they're sure to jump into perverted conclusions. But then the afternoon wind blows and her mint-vanilla scent and her green, green eyes and Vanille—she is _everywhere_ and he is petrified; frozen and motionless because he can't believe that he only realizes today how much he's really missed her.

Vanille senses his distress and pulls away and Hope suddenly regrets being so _stupid and awkward_ like a lovesick teenager when he should be happy and alive because _they're finally back_.

"Are you okay?" she asks tentatively, shaking him a little. "You look a little pale."

All the while he just stares at her, still a little skeptic that she _really is there_. Then he smiles again, this time a whimsical smile, "I'm fine, just… ecstatic."

She flushes suddenly, fidgets with her beaded bangles and nods. "I—I see." Hope snickers silently, because he remembers this face of hers all too well. This is her "I-didn't-know-you-felt-that-way" face back on Yaschas Massif. He figures that she took his "ecstasy" the wrong way.

But then she smiles brightly again. She mutters something that gets lost in the wind and takes his hand. "Come one," she tells him, "Time for a reunion!"

* * *

"Look who's here!" Sazh bellows happily and spreads his arms for Vanille. She squeezes Hope's hand before bouncing off to the old man.

Vanille then proceeds to Snow, giving him an animated high-five and then gets introduced to the abashed Dahj.

Hope smiles, looking fondly at them. It's been years since he's seen them interact again and—

"What, not a single 'Welcome back' for me and Light here?" he hears a thickly accented voice say and he whips his head toward it. "Fang!"

"Runt," she greets, "I see you're no longer a runt."

"And you…" Hope mumbles grudgingly, though he's grinning like a mad man, "You're still you."

Fang laughs raucously, "Like I can _change_ in that crummy ol' thing there!" she says as she motions behind her, to the great crystal pillar.

"Hope," Lightning calls him and he's shy to look at her because he realizes that he has forgotten all about her. But then, Light's already there by his side, with her hand on his shoulder and he feels his body tense. Hope looks up, hoping she has forgiven him.

He doesn't speak because again, he's transfixed by Lightning's almost ethereal beauty. She smiles a bit wanly at him and whispers, "Sorry 'bout a while ago. I didn't get to greet you properly because you were… ah, busy." She then tilts her head slyly to Vanille, whose ebullient laughter rings throughout the clearing. He realizes all of a sudden that Lightning has seen it all. Hope's cheeks flame but he smiles, pretending he's ignorant just a little bit. "Welcome back, Light."

Light taps his forehead, "It's good to be back." Behind her, Hope sees Serah looking at him with something akin to relief in her eyes. He nods at her discreetly today because he's not sure he can convey the message of his apology for a while ago with coherent words. She smiles at him and gives him a thumbs-up.

Snow approaches them with Vanille under his arm and laughs, pointing at the girl. "Look at this! She's unbelievable! She's _crying_! You're a hero, Vanille; heroes don't cry!"

Vanille stands up straight and wipes at her eyes. "It's just that—" she sniffles, "—that it's been so _long _and… and—"

Fang grabs her head with one hand and shakes it subtly. "You need to cheer up, Vanille. Look here—" the crying girl looks at her with wondering, glassy eyes as she motions at everything; the vast lands, the sky and their friends, "—everything's changed hasn't it? But it hasn't changed for the worst, but for the better, don't you agree?"

Vanille takes one sweeping look at everything around her, takes every single blade of grass and every cloud and every twinkle in her friends' eyes—_They're all so vivid, so real and so beautiful, _she thinks.— and smiles.

"Yep! Definitely for the better!"


End file.
